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Sonnets From Other Lives: Ray & Celeste

six hours--four miles--fifteen hundred feet
of elevation gain. the day was hot
& dusty. she & I were nearly beat,
but when we saw that turquoise water we both got
nekkid--dared & dove into a lake
that weeks ago was still covered in snow.
the brief immersion & the fast escape
washed away the dust & sweat & left us glow-
ing in the early evening sun. we pitched our tent,
cooked dinner, hung our food--hoping the bears
would be too dumb to pull it down--then went
scrambling above the lake. night air
crystallized the sky. we watched the show:
starlight from a billion years ago.